Two Bay Area Asian-American university deans were given the first Chang-Lin Tien Awards, which include an unrestricted grant of $10,000.

Dr. Sung-Mo “Steve” Kang, dean of the Baskin School of Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Dr. Belle W. Y. Wei, dean of the College of Engineering at San Jose State University, were recognized for their professional accomplishments.

“With this award, we want to not only honor these scholars and administrators, but to inform the Asian American community of a vision and career path they might not have considered,” said Asian Pacific Fund board member Emerald Yeh in a press release. “We are looking for future ‘Dr. Tiens.'”

The awards are sponsored by the San Francisco-based Asian Pacific Fund. The intention is to honor the state’s Asian American leaders in higher education.

The late Chang-Lin Tien, the first Asian American to head a major research university, served as University of California, Berkeley, chancellor from 1990 to 1997. He also was a founding member of the foundation’s board of directors.

Asian Americans in leadership positions are still under-represented in higher education, according to a 2005 report by the Committee of 100. Asian Americans hold about 6 percent of faculty positions in U.S. universities, but just 1.5 percent in university president positions.

Around 5:35 p.m., CHP officers responded to a report of the incident in westbound I-580 lanes at Main Street. En route, officers learned a vehicle's driver said a person in another vehicle brandished a handgun and fired a shot.

In addition to evacuating 10 neighboring homes, deputies restricted pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the area while the sheriff's office bomb squad "safely disposed" of the explosives, officials said.